Kan Pai Cafe, Norcross GA – A first impression.

Kan Pai Cafe calls itself a Taiwanese grill, and it’s a place I drive by on a semi-regular basis. The building Kan Pai Cafe is in was formerly a Black Eyed Pea I would frequent. That Black Eyed Pea had some of the most indifferent staff I’ve ever suffered from. Not so with Kan Pai. I was generally impressed with my service here.

I wasn’t sure when it would open, but I was coming back from a visit to my doctor when the flashing OPEN sign caught my eye. I’ve been largely out of touch for a couple weeks with foot issues, but curiosity got the better of me. I stepped inside and stared at their menu for a couple minutes before an attractive staffer asked me to come inside.

The inside is nice. The tables are a dark red, the seating is black and there is a lot of good dark wood in the eatery. In the middle is a bar with plenty of wine glasses hanging upside down and the rest of the seating is arranged around the bar. There is a serious attempt to be graceful here and I think they’ve succeeded for the most part.

The menu has a wide variety of items under $7.00. It’s a “small plate” (similar to tapas style) menu, at least the parts I looked at. I ordered edamame and I ordered a steamed seasonal vegetable. Along with that I ordered some rice (no brown rice, but the serving size was about right for me) and salmon with miso. Before the entrées came pickles arrived at the plate, a daikon pickle and a cabbage pickle.

bok choy

Both of the pickles were good. If I weren’t being cautious I’d  have ordered more of the daikon pickle. Of the two, the cabbage was a little sweeter, though really, both had the tart of a vinegar based pickling juice.

The bok choy was really good. I can’t get enough vegetables these days. The salmon (less the sauce they usually pour over the fish) was beautifully plated and was tasty. You could taste the miso marinade. I ate half the fish, and doggie bagged the rest of it (my diet is strict on meats).  I finished with edamame and a lot of water, taking my time, savoring the beans.

There were large swaths of the menu I couldn’t explore in a first visit. Kan Pai has more classically Taiwanese dishes. I was sticking to things that had Japanese analogs. They have good looking fruit juices and fruit slushes, a lot of noodle dishes, a set of fried dishes I didn’t try. There is a lot to explore here, and it would take more than one visit to figure out what this place can offer in toto.

Verdict: Affordable Taiwanese eatery with good looking dishes and responsive staff. Highly Recommended.

Kan Pai Cafe
3466 Holcombe Bridge Road
Norcross, GA 30092
(770) 840-8999

 

Craving Eggs

I’d been craving something heavier for lunch or breakfast and was looking enviously at diets with bacon and eggs and traditional breakfast components. We didn’t have any bacon, but olive oil is a healthier fat than bacon, and my wife had purchased a pint carton of egg whites. The brand name was Publix EggStirs and I had never cooked with them.

It wasn’t hard. The instructions on the side were spot on. I tossed in a teaspoon of  oil and realized I could have used a tablespoon, as I was cooking up 4 egg equivalents, half for my daughter. Medium heat, 30 seconds, turn with a wooden spoon. The product turned out well.

Plated, with some brown rice and a banana it looked like this:

In terms of exchanges, it’s 1 carb, 2 fruit, 2 meat, 0.5 fat. I mostly used cracked pepper and a little chile pepper to spice the eggs. What do you use to spice up your eggs?

 

Starting to assemble an exchange “diet”.

Since everyone talking to me about food these days generally talk in terms of exchanges, it helps when there are tools to translate this abstract concept into something concrete. One good set of tools for working with exchanges are the ExRx nutrition pages. Though intended for exercise professionals and fitness buffs, the site conveniently locates a ton of information about exchanges in one place and includes an exchange calculator and a log sheet for meals.

Another useful tool, since I do need to lose weight, is the WebMD diet calculator. This one talks about BMI indices and things I don’t need to worry about now. This will let me ballpark how much I need to eat to lose, say, 1 pound a week. Further, there are certain minimal nutritional goals I need for reach of the six food groups in an exchange diet (note that this site also offers exchange meal plans).

Last, the NIH also has diet advice (though general), and on a very succinct page, they have detailed suggestions for the exchanges necessary to achieve certain dietary goals.

A typical breakfast these days. 2 carb, 2 milk, 1 fat exchange. Love that pepper and olive oil.

Gotchas:

1. There are plenty of diet calculators, and they all give slightly different results. In large part it is because each makes slightly different assumptions about how active people are. Some calculators get you to try and estimate your work load, others try to get you to choose a “life style” and then go on and predict what your caloric intake is.

2. As neat as the exchange sites are, they seem to be using different assumptions for their exchanges. If you plug in the exchanges that comes from the daily meal plans at Diet Site into the exchange calculator on ExRx, they don’t add up. I can only assume that the exchanges on ExRx are more intensely broken down. I’m thinking you have to figure out all your fat sources on ExRx (such as the fat in a typical meat), while the exchanges on Diet Rite have them figured in already. At least until I start working with a professional dietician, I’m more inclined to follow the NIH’s advice in terms of exchanges.

3. If you’re big, like me, you need to be careful and not get too enthusiastic. Yes, it’s cool that you can figure out a 1,200 calorie diet when you’re 6′1″ and 265, but you’re not going to lose weight when you cut your calories too low. As this site explains:

Use a “quick and dirty” formula. Without any activity, your body needs at least 10 calories per pound of your ideal weight

If your ideal weight, is say, 150 pounds, you really shouldn’t be looking at diets less than 1,500 calories a day. If you eat too little, your body thinks you are starving and adjusts how efficient it is. Then, when you start eating normally, there is a weight rebound and loss of time before things get adjusted again.

 

Consumer Reports, health, meal planning, and other food notes.

Consumer Reports is a magazine my mother loved, and one I subscribed to for a long time. They have specials occasionally, focusing on various topics. Recently they put out a special on food and health. I’ve bought it, like it, and highly recommend it. Their articles about things like cereals (Cheerios are #1 in one cereal chart) and relative rankings of supermarkets (Trader Joe’s #2, and Publix #3) seem to seriously jibe with supermarkets favored by the foodie and blogging community.

The Columbian restaurant, Cositas Ricas, has now closed. In the same strip mall, a new restaurant, Maya Fresh Grill, has been opening for at least a month now.

After a recent bout of foot problems, and a stay in the hospital, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I was surprised, to be honest, but I’ve been having my spate of issues with rich men’s diseases, the kind that come from a diet that’s rich in everything. And yes, diabetes sounds awful but it surely doesn’t stop anyone from eating. In fact, compared to my former eating styles, I’m being encouraged to eat more, but in smaller carefully managed portions. I was told to eat 4 meals a day, each meal with 3 carbohydrate exchanges. When I go out to eat, the recommendation has been to ask for a doggy bag up front and manage the portions I do eat. About the only thing I’ve been warned away from has been orange juice.

I’m not a breakfast eater and having 4 meals a day will be a change. And looking for restaurants friendly to diabetics will be something new, as opposed to looking for the “All you can eat” catfish emporium, or pigging out on that extra large pizza.  While there are a number of people who call themselves Diabetic Foodies (see here and here), I don’t see them eating out very much. It’s a new challenge, and in a peculiar way, a new opportunity.

This leads to a series of questions. How friendly are the various Atlanta bakeries to diabetics? Are their rolls small enough (or tearable enough) to be used for a meal or a snack? How diabetic friendly are Atlanta restaurants? How many even know diabetics exist?

Do you have diabetes? Do you have friends that have the disease? What kinds of accommodations have you made when going out with friends or relatives?

FnS.

 

Koji Osakaya, San Francisco CA

Koji Osakaya is, I’m told, a chain. My brother-in-law believes there are versions of this chain in Los Angeles and also in Japan. You can find web sites for this restaurant on the Internet, and search engines also turn up a location in Seattle Washington. The web site, though, only mentions restaurants in Oregon. It’s as if a regional portion of the chain has hijacked the website. Like most Japanese restaurants in Japantown, Osakaya has an extensive display of food in glass cases outside.

We came here on a day when finding a place for my mother-in-law to eat was paramount. She skipped a ton of restaurants and settled on this one. It was crowded. There was a line out the door. Most of the people wanting to eat here were Asian.  Once we got inside, the tables were largely set up as booths. There were thin wooden dividers between the booths. Wait staff was divided between helping out customers and working a “take out” window. Walls were yellow and black and there was interesting calligraphy on the walls. The seating felt a little cramped to me, more a Japanese model of how space is used than something out of the American West.

We took a look at the menu and ordered. I had never had yakuniku before, so I ordered that. My wife ordered tempura, my mother-in-law ordered sashimi. The girls (my niece and my daughter) ordered curry. Depending on what people ordered, miso soup or salads would arrive early, so those tended to be shared. The dinner plates arrived last. Many of these came with chirashi sushi along with the entrée.

yakuniku plate.

tempura

sashimi plate.

Curry ; my niece loves this dish.

I enjoyed the yakuniku. My wife wasn’t entirely satisfied with her food; I don’t recall why currently. The sashimi was good. The chirashi sushi was decent, but surely wasn’t as nice as what I’ve had at, say, Bishoku. Overall it was decent, the kind of experience you might expect from a mid range chain from Japan whose purpose was to feed Japanese at a reasonable price.

Verdict: Externally, visually impressive. A little cramped, a little harried, but decent food, and mother-in-law approved. Recommended.

Koji Osakaya
1737 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 922-2728

 

A Ramen must-read

In the New York Times, Matt Gross has published a delightful article about the ramen shops of Tokyo.

 

Bowie needs a home, and other notes.

The first item of note is that I’m having some serious foot issues, and until they are resolved, new reviews will be coming slower, if at all. The second item of note has been provided by Vicki Sabo, who raises Tibetan Spaniels OTP, and as far as I know, is the only Tibetan Spaniel breeder in the state of Georgia. Our dog is a Tibbie, as they are called, and we’ve come to know Vicki as we bought our animal from her.

She has an animal she’s rescued, and I’m going to report her recent letter about the dog Bowie:

HI friends,

I’ve had a rescued Tibetan Spaniel in my home for the past 7 weeks.  This poor boy (I call him “Bowie”) has a sad story.  I had met his owner at dog shows a few years ago. We became friendly and discussed traveling to shows together the falling spring to save expenses and have companionship.  However, she developed leukemia that winter (a result of chemo as a child) and died that winter.  The husband had not been real involved with the dogs, but now had 16 plus an elderly aunt that lived with them.  He put the 6 male dogs (not neutered, I assume, as this boy wasn’t until recently) in the basement during the day.  A couple of the dogs were large, and Bowie was “picked on” by the other dogs.

Eventually neighbors called animal control on this man, as there is a limit of 3 dogs in his county.  The animal control supervisor lives one block away and has kept pressure on him reducing down to 3 dogs.  Only two of the dogs were tibbies, and he kept the female one.  He contacted me (I had offered to help him) and brought Bowie over.  Bowie had a severe flea reaction and had lost most the hair on his back end (although bathed the night before, he was still covered in fleas).  He was also rather skinny.  But the main help this dog needed was LOVE…he was terrified and very skiddish.  In fact, the dog was in my backyard (half-acre) when the man left, and I could not get him to come in, he just kept running from me.  I had to have the man come back!  I kept the dog on collar and leash for the next several days until I was sure he would come to me.

Fortunately, it only took a couple days for this dog to bond to me, he was so appreciative of attention and affection.  He really enjoys the company of my dogs except for my boys who were aggressive to him once they discovered he was intact.  He is now a happy, healthy, very handsome dog.  He was well-bred and could have finished his championship.  However, he had a severe marking habit that few people could tolerate, so he was neutered.  Just one week after neutering, his marking behavior has curtailed greatly, and I will continue to work with him with hopes of eliminating that entirely.

Other than initial shyness and marking, he is the perfect pet.  He loves to take walks, will ride in the car quietly, does not object to crating at night in my room, and plays all day with other dogs here.  He likes toys and has some cute quirks.  He is very gentle and sweet and is in excellent health.  I am asking for reimbursement of expenses only-neutering, shot, etc.

Let me know if you can’t open the photos,  It gave me a funny error message that I ignored and was able to see them when I checked.

Oh,BTW, he is just turning 4 years old and is about 15 lbs.

Your friend in dogs,

Vicki Sabo

PS The ideal home would be able to keep him inside in a gated area with no carpet until he loses the desire to mark.  He will potty on papers if needed.  He uses the dog door here to go outside.  You would need to devote the first couple days to making him comfortable.  Your house and yard MUST be escape-proof as Bowie may be very skiddish again in a new situation and would be impossible to catch.  He must be pottied on a leash the first days to prevent having to catch him.  Trust me, this dog is worth this early inconvenience.

If this dog interests you, and you need Vicki’s contact information,it can be found in the breeder’s list of the Tibetan Spaniel Club of America.

 

Carraba’s Italian Grill, Atlanta GA (Perimeter area)

I really like Carraba’s Italian Grill. I like the service, which is exceptionally good for chains in its price range. I like the bread, fresh, tasty and excellent. Most times I get into Carraba’s and I can’t get past the spaghetti and Italian sausage, which are very good. I came here recently for lunch, because I was in the area. They started, as usual, with a very good loaf of bread.

Just to change the routine, I had a soup and sandwich this day. The combo included half an Italian panini and a bowl of their spicy chicken soup. My waitress, excellent, offered me the choice of chips or pasta with the entrée. I chose pasta, and when chips arrived anyway, soon a serving of pasta was on my table.

The soup was good, and had a hint of spice. The sandwich was crusty and tasty. I don’t think either was as excellent as the spaghetti and sausage, but I have a serious soft spot for a good sausage.

Verdict: Good Italian eatery. Excellent bread, excellent service. Highly recommended.

Carrabas Italian Grill
1210 Ashford Crossing
Atlanta, GA 30346
(770) 804-0467

Note: Amy on Food has a recent review of Carraba’s Italian Grill.

 

Greenwoods, Roswell GA

Greenwoods, a restaurant founded by Bill Greenwood and located on Green Street in Roswell, has an over twenty year history of seating customers and satisfying appetites. Like so many other restaurants in the historic district of Roswell, this one is carved out of a house, brick walls and wooden sides the dominant elements as you approach. The grounds are quirky. A black truck frame sits on one side, and figuring out where the entrance lies presents a bit of a problem. I followed sidewalks and opened the first door I found. Luckily it was the right door.

Staff and patrons were friendly this lunch time, the patrons telling me this was going to be some of the best food I’d ever eaten. In the various rooms, tables were a dark brown, the color scheme was a white and dark orange, and paintings could be found on the walls. Greenwoods is well known for its chicken dish, but I have a serious weakness for duck, and was pretty sure before I came that I was going to try their duck with plum sauce, and that’s in fact what I ordered. It comes with two sides, and I asked that the plum sauce be placed on the side.

I was told it would take 20 minutes to prepare my duck, and in advance they left a good cornbread on the table. It seemed shorter than 20 minutes to me, as the duck arrived quickly. It was a good looking bird, with a pretty skin and dusted with cracked peppercorn. It tasted fantastic. The duck skin was crisp. The peppercorns were a nice touch, adding heat and flavor to the skin. I could have the duck with the spice of pepper, or pour on the plum sauce and add the sweet and fruit flavors the plum sauce provided.

The collards surprised me. They were a little dry and they were tart. I liked the change, thought the collards were well worth eating. The black eyed peas were decent but not outstanding. Serving size was really large. There was enough food here to feed me for two meals, not one. The cost overall was comparable to a mid priced steak house, but given the generous portions, a group could eat rather cheaply here by sharing entrées.

Left to right: plum sauce, black eyed peas, collard greens.

My overall impression is that Bill Greenwood’s restaurant deserves its reputation. The duck was excellent, the service was good, and the patrons largely enthusiastic about this icon in Roswell.

Verdict: Excellent traditional eatery in the heart of Roswell. A great duck. Highly recommended.

Greenwoods
1087 Green Street
Roswell, GA 30075
(770) 992-5383

Notes: Lindsey Z’s Adventurous Tastes and the blog “..and the eggs” have interesting, useful reviews of Greenwoods.

 

Richie Rich Caribbean and American Cuisine, Snellville GA

Richie Rich is a small one man Caribbean eatery in the L shaped strip mall found near Highway 78 and Henry Clower Boulevard. It’s away from Highway 78 and hard to see unless you’re in the mall parking lot.  Once inside, there are only two tables with 4 chairs. The restaurant is really intended to be a take out place, more than anything else.

I had been trying to get to this restaurant a while with little success. On a recent weekend I had to work, and decided to drop by after my work day was over. Finally it was open!  There was a blackboard outside with a list of entrées available. Food plates are available in three sizes, small, medium and large. An order of oxtail, curried meats or jerk chicken is usually accompanied with peas and rice and also some vegetables. If you want, gravy can be poured over the peas and rice. If they serve patés, I didn’t see any this day.

I ended up with the medium jerk chicken plate and Grace Tropical Rhythms Pineapple and Ginger drink. The jerk is a dry jerk at Richie Rich and you can smell and taste the smoke in the meat. It was quite tasty and  pleasing. I like it when I can smell the smoke in the meats I’m eating. The gravy (which I believe came from the stewed chicken) added an unexpected sweetness to the peas and rice. The drink had both sweetness and some bite to it, a kind of delayed reaction ginger beer effect.

I liked what I had. I’d tell you hours of this restaurant, but none are posted. I’m going to assume it’s open for lunch and dinner, but whether it’s 5 or 6 days a week is anyone’s guess. I believe it’s closed on Sunday but again, without posted hours I can’t be 100% sure.

Verdict: Small restaurant with a good dry jerk chicken and decent sides.  Recommended.

Richie Rich Caribbean and American Cuisine
2296 Henry Clower Boulevard
Snellville, GA 30078-3147
(770) 676-0962